Conventional material processing techniques for finished goods (e.g., paint) that include use of bulk materials (e.g., thermoplastic pellets) can be limited. For example, thermoplastic pellets may be manufactured using a variety of ingredients that may be fed into an extruder. Some of these ingredients can include pigments to impart color to the thermoplastic pellets. These thermoplastic pellets may then be placed into bags for containment and transport. The bags containing the thermoplastic pellets may then be used as part of a batch process. This may include introducing them into a heating kettle to generate paint.
Conventional processing techniques may restrict the color of the finished product. For example, the color of the finished product may be limited to the pigment color that was fed into the extruder. Thus, the addition of pigment during the thermoplastic pellet manufacturing process may have to be modified each time a different finished product color is required. This can be a significant burden. For example, the finished product may be destined for use by different consumers or different applications that require different color indexes. Adjusting for the differences in the required color index for the finished product by changing the color of pigment added during the thermoplastic manufacturing process can reduce efficiency and/or quality of the processes used to make the thermoplastic pellets and/or the finished product. This may be especially so during mass production of the thermoplastic pellets.
It may be beneficial to accommodate the required color index differences via modifications to the bag containing the thermoplastic pellets. Examples of conventional bulk bags and containers for materials handling may be understood from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,771,254, 4,101,292, U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2011/0164834, U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2011/0245057, U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2012/0102627, U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2013/0044966, and U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2015/0036952.